Ashland University’s football team finished out the 2018 season with a dominant 41-7 win over the Northern Michigan Wildcats on Saturday afternoon at Jack Miller Stadium/Martinelli Field.

The victory was bittersweet as the senior players were sent off with one final ringing of the victory bell after the game.

The Eagles ended the season at 6-4 overall and 6-2 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference while the Wildcats finished 3-8 and 1-7 in the GLIAC.

Ashland head coach Lee Owens said he was very happy with the way his senior group continued to fight week in and week out throughout this season.

“I was most happy for our senior group. It’s been a challenging year,” Owens said. “We’ve never been disappointed, never been discouraged at all with this group. They’ve gone out and fought every week and continued to get better and better.”

It was the Eagle defense that set the tone for the team as they kept the Wildcats to only 145 yards of total offense while forcing five turnovers on the day.

The Wildcats, who were the No. 1 rushing team in the GLIAC was limited to just 99 yards on the ground. They entered the game averaging 256 rushing yards with running back Jake Maylon leading the GLIAC with 1,411 rushing yards.

Maylon was limited to only 94 yards on 25 carries.

Senior quarterback Billy Bahl shined in the victory throwing 12-of-18 for 152 yards and four touchdowns.

Bahl said that sending off his fellow seniors with a win felt good.

“It felt good to get out here and get a win for all these seniors,” Bahl said. “They’ve put in so much work over the last four years and I was only here for eight to 10 months.”

The Eagles got on the board in their first drive with a 27-yard field goal by sophomore kicker Satchel Denton to put them up 3-0 early on in the first quarter.

Ashland’s defense would come up big forcing two fumbles and an interception by junior safety Nick Powers. Bahl found sophomore tight end Michael Schweitzer for a 14-yard touchdown off the first fumble with 6:47 left in the first to put AU up 10-0.

Powers then got another interception leading to a 27-yard field goal by Denton for a 13-0 lead. Powers would end up with three takeaways for the game with a fourth-quarter interception.

Bahl’s second touchdown of the game would be a 7-yard connection to redshirt-sophomore tight end Austin Phillips with 10:55 left until halftime before hitting sophomore wide receiver Logan Bolin for a 36-yard touchdown pass right before halftime for a 27-0 cushion.

Bahl immediately threw another touchdown to kick off the second half, this time a 16-yard pass to redshirt-freshman fullback Austin Williams for a 34-0 lead. The scoring drive was set up by redshirt-junior running back Luke Ogi’s 32-yard run on a fourth down conversion.

Mayon would put the Wildcats only points on the board on a 5-yard run with 4:09 left to go in the third quarter to make the game 34-7.

Ashland added their final touchdown of the game with redshirt-junior quarterback John Davies hitting senior wide receiver Connor Black for a 15-yard touchdown to seal the 41-7 victory.

The Eagles rushing attack was led by senior running back Andrew Vaughn with 47 yards on 12 carries. Ogi followed right behind him with 46 yards on eight carries.

Bolin paced AU’s receiving corps with two receptions for 45 yards and a touchdown. Schweitzer also chipped in 33 yards off two receptions and a touchdown.

The Eagle “D” was led by junior defensive end Tristan Reichelderfer with three tackles, two sacks and three tackles for loss. He was followed by junior linebacker Clay Shreve who had three tackles, one tackle for loss and a sack. Senior defensive end James Prater Jr. also had one tackle, two tackles for loss and 1 ½ sacks on the day.

This years senior class goes out as the second-winningest senior program in Ashland history with 36 wins in four years.

Owens said that he was happy that this year’s group of seniors were a part of a lot of wins and championships in the past and that they were able to finish the year strong.

“We’re a really good football team right now, a lot better than we were earlier in the year and you look where our seniors are and you’d like to see them playing in the postseason but they’ve had that experience,” he said. “Only last year’s senior class had more wins, and they were a part of a lot of those wins and a championship, so they’ve been there and they finished strong.”